Of Old Men and Beards
by Chitanda
Summary: Kotetsu has finally changed his famous "Cat Beard"! But Barnaby doesn't understand why he's using another certain animal in place of cats...


"Kotetsu-san," a smaller but still strong hand latched onto his tanned wrist, two thin (almost "girly") fingers slipping under his Hero TV bracelet. Kotetsu turned and smiled questioningly, urging the other to talk. Barnaby cleared his throat and released his hold on his partner. "Kotetsu-san ... What is _that_?" And with 'that' he gestured to Kotetsu's face.

Which Kotetsu promptly told him it was. "Bunny-chan, it's my face."

Barnaby sighed. _What an idiot_, is what he _would_ have said in the beginning but after being his partner for almost a year he had come to understand, and most of all, **tolerate** Kotetsu more. That didn't mean he couldn't shake his head at some of Kotetsu's antics, though. "No, I'm talking about your ... 'beard.' Something is off about it today."

"Oh." So he'd noticed, huh? Couldn't put anything past him. "Well, yeah. I tried shaving it differently today, haha. I've had the same style for a while and I decided to try something different."

Barnaby hummed in acknowledgement but still eyed him skeptically.

"A-Ah," Kotetsu laughed nervously, maybe a little too loud because the other Heroes turned to look at the two of them. With strange looks on their faces, the Heroes turned back to mingle with each other. All but Antonio. Lowering his voice, Kotetsu asked, "Do you like it ..?"

"Your beard?"

"Well, obviously." A tanned hand reached up to stroke said beard, as if trying to put it on display.

Barnaby scoffed and turned away. "I... guess I like it," he answered, turning back to look at Kotetsu with half-lidded eyes. "It's a nice change, I suppose. I thought old people hated change, though?" His eyes sparkled with amusement and he smiled teasingly.

Man, his mood changes were weird.

Laughing (maybe a bit too loudly again, but then again when _wasn't_ he loud?), Kotetsu nodded and patted his partner good naturedly on the back, even going so far as to add in a wink. "This old tiger still has some tricks left in him."

"That didn't really fit the situation," Barnaby hissed out, his face flushing again as he glanced over at the other Heroes, "and it sounded a bit strange, to be frank." The lot of them were staring at them oddly except for Blue Rose, who glared at them openly. Looking back to Kotetsu, Barnaby whispered, "Don't say weird things like that so loudly."

"I don't see what was so bad about it."

Barnaby resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead patted Kotetsu's shoulder as he turned to leave. "I'll see you later, Kotetsu-san."

And with that Kotetsu was left by his lonesome, still wondering what he'd said wrong.

* * *

><p>It was the next morning and the Heroes were all exercising as usual when Antonio walked in. Nathan smiled at him and called out a "yoohoo~" while waving his manicured hand in the air before turning back to talk with the "other girls." Keith was training vigorously as usual and Barnaby was also training, but Kotetsu was nowhere to be seen. It was for the better but he had to make this quick.<p>

"Excuse me," Antonio coughed out in his gruff voice. Barnaby looked up at him and detached himself from the weight machine and asked what he could help him with. Antonio shifted back and forth a bit, obviously uncomfortable with the situation, making Barnaby even more curious. "It's about Kotetsu."

This caught Barnaby's attention immediately. "What is it?"

"It's about his ... beard."

Barnaby frowned. He was relieved that it wasn't something like "Kotetsu has been found passed out in an alleyway with his body covered in bruises and his own blood" but at the same time disappointed that it wasn't something at least a little more interesting than the discussion of his _beard_.

"Yes, what about his beard?" The blonde dabbed at his forehead with a nearby hand towel and put his glasses back on. "He's changed the 'shape' of it, I know. Is there anything else, Mr. Bison?"

Antonio cleared his throat and looked around for a moment for a chair and sat down on the weight machine next to Barnaby's (which was designated as Kotetsu's). "You see, he's had that cat beard for years... Many years. He's actually used that style since ... well I'd say, since his college days," Barnaby's eyebrows rose and Antonio smiled. "His girlfriend at the time, she became his wife not too long after ... She was the one that introduced him to what we call today, 'The Cat Beard.'"

"His wife did?" Barnaby asked.

"Mmm. It's a funny story, he was sleeping in his dorm and she had come to take him on their date. You can imagine her annoyance upon finding him asleep when they were supposed to be going out for a movie, haha. She was so angry she wanted to play a little prank on him, which was, as you can imagine, to mess with his beard," Antonio took a moment to laugh. "His beard was his everything, next to her, so she knew it would be a blow to him. Unfortunately for her, when he woke up and saw it he was instantly in love with it. He actually kept it as a way to remember their love."

For once, Barnaby was at a loss for words.

"So, for him to change his beard," Antonio rubbed at the back of his neck and stood up. "Well, I'll let you figure it out yourself." And he left, leaving Barnaby to his thoughts.

...

"But why would he use bunnies?"

* * *

><p><strong>First T&amp;B fanfic. thumbs up! I've had this "bunny beard" idea for a couple weeks and decided I should get it written out before I forget, lol. The bit about Tomoe giving him the beard was kind of inspired by a drawing I saw somewhere of Tomoe putting it on him with a marker. I forget who did the drawing, LOL I SUCK but yeah, that's where I got the idea for Tomoe from.**

**Also, headcanon is that Tomoe, Antonio and Kotetsu all went to college and were bffs, oh yeah! |D Ahaha, I had some problems with this fic because I kept making Bunny too tsundere and girly sob I'm so bad at portraying men. With the help of my guy friend, Lamar, I fixed him up a little.**

**I haven't written anything in so long so my writing is really rusty, but I'm going to try and write more fics soon to get out of this slump, lmao. This will probably be the beginning of many more T&B fanfics, so I hope you fellow Tiger and Bunny fans enjoy my fics. Until later, see ya! /charming Barnaby smile**


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